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Council should be the supervisory body to see that they are
properly carried out." This scheme corresponds closely with my
proposals, in the Address above adverted to, wherein I advocated,
with the view to bringing about Unity in Sanitary Administration,
the establishment of a "Central Board to take charge of all great
matters affecting the Metropolis as a whole, to lay down the
principles on which sanitary administration should be carried out,
by passing bye-laws, &c., and generally to exercise a supervisory
control over the work entrusted by the Local Management Acts
to the Vestries and District Boards." The Central Board, I added,
" would, so to say, be legislative in its functions, the Local Boards
executive, and thus substantial unity might be attained with a
minimum of change."
In the Public Health (London) Bill (ride page 86), to which
reference has already been made, a scheme of the sort outlined by the
Sanitary Committee of the Council has been provided for, but it is
meeting with opposition from some of the Local Authorities, who
think that the framing of bye-laws can be equally well effected by
themselves. As, in any case, theLocal Government Board's sanction
will be necessary before bye-laws become operative, it may reasonably
be hoped that no effort will be spared to ensure uniformity,
whether the bye-laws are drafted by the Council or by the Local
Authority, or by both acting in concert.
The need for improvement in Sanitary Legislation and in
Sanitary Administration was patent to Mr. Ritchie, President of
the Local Government Board, when, in the House of Commons, in
March, 1890, he made a statement indicating the views and intentions
of the Government in regard to these matters, especially in
connection with the Housing of the Working Classes. Premising
that it was "not so much legislation that was wanted as a reform of
administration," Mr. Ritchie nevertheless admitted that "much
still remained to be done, in the way of legislation, to give effect
to the Report of the Royal Commission of 1885, by means of the
consolidation and amendment of the Sanitary Acts." He hoped,